Tom New

Story:
Tom New was born in 1883 in Woodcutts, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset. He was the son of Esan New, a Traction Engine Driver and Ann New (née Sanger). His siblings included Arthur New, born in 1877, who also died in the war . The family lived at Vale Farm, Sutton Waldron, Dorset. On 13 Jul 1910 Tom married Ethel White at Sixpenny Handley. At the time of the 1911 Census Tom was working as a Woodman and living in Sixpenny Handley, Dorset. His mother died in 1911 and his father in 1913. He enlisted in Blandford, Dorset, as a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. 17738). He served in Mesopotamia and was awarded the Victory and British War Medals. He died from an unknown cause in Iraq on 1st July 1917 and his name appears on the Basra Memorial, Basra, Iraq (Panel 22 and 63). (This would indicate that his remains had not been recovered.) He is also remembered on the Sixpenny Handley War Memorial. His wife Ethel, who remarried Francis Mitchell in 1922, was awarded a widow's pension of £1. 5s. 5d. (£1.27p) per week for herself and two children though the daughter later died in 1919. In 1939 she was living at 4 Council Houses, Sixpenny Handley, Dorset.